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The Foot and Mouth Crisis in Britain - Archive from May 2001 - Jan 2002

"The reality is that if you tell people too much, then they might organise themselves, object to the Government's barren and mechanical thinking and slow down the supposed clear-up rate. "Kill everything quickly" is the reality behind the empty rhetoric of the "rigorous action" to tackle foot and mouth.."(Penrith Herald July 14th)

click here for succinct history of FMD crisis

Results on serological testing on sheep - updated July 16

Comment on Upton v. Defra case June 22

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Jan 11 ~ Test results from the 2,100 sheep in Falstone, Northumberland who were all slaughtered on New Year's Day, have come back negative today.

"It is not to be unexpected that they will find sheep with positive antibodies when they are testing. This is not full-blown foot-and-mouth...." said Malcolm Corbett, of Rochester, the NFU representative for hill farmers. (Hexham Courant)
Not full-blown foot and mouth? Of course it is not. Sheep with antibodies have had the disease and recovered - just as humans who develop antibodies after they have shaken off a bout of measles and are completely healthy again cannot be said to be suffering from full-blown measles - they are not suffering from measles at all, nor are they infectious. But 2,100 healthy sheep died on New Years Day as a result of government rules in a continuation of the similar killing that destroyed the irreplaceable hefted sheep on the Brecon Beacons. Two more sheep with antibodies have been culled today in a flock of 88 near Scots Gap even though the test on the second sheep were "inconclusive". This inconclusive result may have saved the other 86 from sharing the fate of the Donkleywood flock..

Jan 11 ~ "Legal experts are expected to provide evidence supporting a public inquiry

on behalf of a number of prominent national newspaper groups. Nicholas Bowen of legal chambers 29 Bedford Row is acting on behalf of the BBC and the national newspapers.
They include the Telegraph Group, which owns The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph; Associated Newspapers, which owns the Daily Mail and Evening Standard; and the Mirror Group, which owns the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror. After hearing the cases for and against, the judges will decide whether a full public inquiry into the foot-and-mouth should be held." Cheering news from Farmers Weekly Interactive this evening. (See Newspapers) and our original page about this judicial review on December 21

Jan 11 ~... it confirms the impression that the Animal Health Bill bears the worst hallmarks of New Labour: apparently modern and scientific, actually authoritarian and ill thought through.

"It may be that the government calculates that members of the newly formed Northern Short Tailed Sheep Group are few, and that most voters would not know one end of a Herdwick from another.... " The editorial in Country Life this week. And a reminder of an article in the Guardian about Country Life's "Countryside Villain of the Year" awards in November

Jan 11 ~ A press release from DEFRA promises a consultation paper on the Animal Health amendment Bill. "The Bill does not advocate any one approach to disease control but strengthens the four available main elements of culling, vaccination, blood-testing and biosecurity," says Mr Morley....

.. The note to editors says:
"1 The Animal Health Bill (which amends the Animal Health Act 1981) is currently being debated in Parliament. It provides new powers to deal rapidly and decisively with any resurgence (or future outbreaks) of foot and mouth disease.
2 The Bill will increase the options that are available to the Government for effective disease control, including wider powers of slaughter and new powers of entry for vaccination, slaughter and other purposes.
3 The Bill applies only to England and Wales. The Scottish Executive plans to consult on changes to animal health legislation in the next couple of months.
4 The deadline for comments to DEFRA regarding the consultation paper is March 15. Written responses should be sent to Dr David Harris, DEFRA, Area 801, 1A Page Street, London. SW1 4PQ or faxed to 020 7904 8312. They can also be e-mailed to ahbillcriteria@defra.gsi.gov.uk
5 The consultation paper will be available in the consultation section of DEFRA's website shortly."

Jan 11 ~ An interesting short paper on vaccination, with contributions from authoritative sources, has been sent to this website.

Extract: "What is required is that the OIE change the rules to suit the science Not make the rules and then make the science fit - as is happening at the moment. The problem, which clearly came out at the Brussels Conference (at which I was a delegate) is not in the availability or efficacy of either the vaccines or the availability of rapid and efficient methods of testing for the disease - particularly tests to tell the difference between vaccinated animals and those naturally infected. What is lacking is the will to accept these by validation. The reasons are political both with the scientists and the governments." Read the paper here or see the vaccination pages on warmwell which have been updated today and will be kept updated as often as possible.

Jan 11 ~ Sir John Krebs FSA, and Prof Tim Lang, Thames Valley University on the Today Programme yesterday. The transcript...

can be read here. Thanks to Jon we now have three important new transcripts on warmwell. In addition to yesterday's interview above, you can read the interview with Prof David King on Farming Today and also on the Today Programme on Dec 28th ( Extract:.. on the vaccination question, the point that is raised by those who want vaccination in some degree is that the decisions weren't made on a scientific basis, they were being influenced particularly by the NFU on economic grounds and because of the sorts of people that the organisation represents and by other factors that weren't pure scientific views. What would you say to those people?)

Jan 11 ~ The Australians, it seems, are less than impressed with the sheep scare story plastered over the world's Media yesterday. From News.com.Australia...

David Adams, a senior scientist with Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Australia, said "This whole BSE thing is becoming a bit crazy because the real risks are being managed," he said. "it is really the worst, worst, worst-case scenario that this paper is looking at". "We have this biochemically complex disease with an astonishingly simple control measure -- don't feed (cattle and sheep) meat and bone meal." Veteran Canberra grazier John Starr concurred, adding that he had never even heard of feeding animal by-products to sheep. "Those Poms have some funny ideas, don't they? They think kangaroos are going extinct and they think mad cow disease is going to get into sheep," Mr Starr said.

Jan 10 ~ This article from the vet, Alan Richardson, was published today in the Veterinary Times.

Extract: The profession and the public
1. Whatever the legal situation, should not the RCVS make it plain to the public that DEFRA instructed veterinary surgeons to lower their normal ethical and professional standards so far as diagnosis was concerned?
2. Should not the RCVS declare that the SOS policy and the 3km cull, never having been used in the past and being based on the theoretical assumptions of academic models, were unnecessary and unethical?
3. Does the RCVS have any jurisdiction over the conduct of members employed by DEFRA?
4. If it does, should it not, in the public interest, review all DEFRA's veterinary practices along with the documentation that staff are required to sign in their capacity as veterinary surgeons?

Jan 10 ~ Interestingly, the Mirror headline has just been changed. (10.30 ish)

It now, more circumspectly, reads "Is BSE in our Sheep? Plea to test 40m" Has someone pointed out to Bob Roberts that the emphasis in his previous headline (see below) was, in all senses of the phrase, jumping the gun?

Jan 10 ~ Sir John Krebs, head of the Food Standards Agency and long time associate of Professor Anderson, says "one solution could be to breed sheep that were resistant to BSE or scrapie."Ananova Well there's a surprise....

Having waited just long enough for all the papers to fill the public mind with panic about sheep (BSE IN SHEEP MORE DANGEROUS THAN COWS screams the Mirror today), the Food Standards Agency, which funded Prof Ferguson's "research" or mathematical modelling says that " Ministers may have to act to protect public health after research showed that lamb may pose a greater BSE risk than beef." Language is a wonderful tool for misinformation alas, and scrutiny of evidence is, as the government well knows, not a high priority for the electorate. The provisions of the Animal Health bill, due for its Second Reading in the Lords on Tuesday, will face no opposition from the gullible public - who have now been told what to believe by the British press. The scrapie/BSE confusion is doing for the AHB what the Nisha fiasco did - leading the people by the nose. The fact that the seizing of that ship turned out to be wholly unwarrantable was not reported in the press. The voices raised in protest at the wholly bad science behind the Animal Health bill are ignored too.

Jan 10 ~ The Inquiry into Foot and Mouth to be held in Strasbourg is now on track

and awaits its final hurdle of a vote in the plenary session in Strasbourg in February (we think). It is likely to go through challenged only by the socialists - at the behest of the British Labour Party - but they do not have enough votes to block it. This could be one small ray of hope in the murky news today.

Jan 10 ~ As we feared, the media have succumbed to the very "knee-jerk" reaction that Prof Ferguson maintained that he was "warning against"

as he made his timely (for the Animal Health amendment bill) "urgent" call for screening aimed at establishing once and for all whether BSE is in sheep (research funded by the FSA). vCJD is a terrifying disease but no proof has been established that BSE in meat is the cause of it and there is no evidence at all that BSE can occur naturally in sheep. The "news" from Imperial College is mere scaremongering. The mathematical modelling that provided the mandate for the catastrophic FMD policy should have warned anyone about theories emerging from that quarter. Any attempt to carry out independent research has been carefully ridiculed by the establishment of government scientists. As Peter Ainsworth, Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, said yesterday, "The present climate of speculation is deeply unhelpful. Reports such as this are clearly capable of causing serious damage to public confidence in lamb and other sheep produce, and could have profound consequences for the farming and food industries. " We are concerned that even as responsible a paper as the Telegraph prints that "Ferguson's group says in Nature that, because BSE in sheep might spread from animal to animal, it cannot rule out the possibility that a much larger epidemic in sheep may develop" when what the Nature article actually says is. "... worst-case scenario also assumes that BSE can spread from sheep to sheep in the same way as scrapie, a similar disease that occurs naturally in the flock. BSE cannot, however, pass naturally from cow to cow" The Times' headline that scrapie may "hide BSE" is also deeply misleading and ill advised. The "research" is mere mathematical modelling again - but readers of headlines do not know that. The Independent is even worse. This is misinformation at its most mischievous..

Jan 9 ~ The epidemiological models used to analyse the foot and mouth epidemic included negative and untested cases as though they were laboratory confirmed cases.

The EU standard definition of a case of FMD (Directive 85/511/ec) is one where laboratory tests confirm the presence of disease. Under EU standards, in UK 2001 FMD epidemic, of the 6 million animals slaughtered only 14.4%, were infected with FMD.
Please see the data received today, including these lab results, and then contact your local paper, your MP and anyone who can help in the demand that must now be ever louder and more insistent, for a proper public inquiry.
Summary: Up to 85.6% (over 5 million) of the animals slaughtered in the UK 2001 FMD epidemic were not infected nor incubating the disease at the time of slaughter. There is no evidence to show that the target of slaughter of infected premises within 24 hours of clinical diagnosis was ever achieved. It is highly likely that delays in slaughter explain why 2001 UK FMD epidemic was not brought under control once movement restrictions and biosecurity measures were imposed.

Jan 9 ~ Our friends at Imperial College are at it again. Neil Ferguson, honoured with an OBE in the New Year, has predicted 50,000 deaths from vCJD - from sheep

...He is telling the public via the journal Nature that the risk comes from sheep rather than from cattle. Note the Ananova story which quotes "experts". The Ananova article does not mention, as the Nature article does, the contribution by Rowland Kao, an epidemiologist at the University of Oxford who argues, "There's nothing to indicate that there's something out there." The worst-case scenario put about by Prof Ferguson and seized upon by Ananova - as it will be, no doubt, by lazy journalists tomorrow - assumes that BSE can spread from sheep to sheep in the same way as scrapie. BSE cannot, however, pass naturally from cow to cow. There is no proven link between BSE and vCJD in any case. Nature continues, "It is also virtually impossible to calculate accurately the possible number of deaths from vCJD. Little is known about how long it takes for vCJD to kill people, or whether the disease can cross the species barrier from sheep to humans.
"The numbers themselves are not that important," argues Kao. It is impossible to avoid the suspicion that the Imperial College work is seeking to pave the way for the Animal Health bill by making people nervous again about the National sheep flock. We have another name for this suspiciously timely piece of unsubstantiated theory in the form of yet another dose of mathematical modelling. It is the old fashioned word "propaganda" and we deplore it. It is with weariness that we note the BBC have already publicised the story, apparently without bothering to read the original article. (See the Nature article )

Jan 9 ~ Unaccountable slaughter figures. We have received the following reply - hot from the Stationery Office presses -

to a parliamentary question in which Mrs Beckett replies to Mr Peter Ainsworth about the strange slaughter figures "in relation to foot and mouth disease" since the end of the outbreak. According to Defra, it seems, a total of 4125 animals were slaughtered between 30th Sept and late December on "affected premises". However, we have the figure of 62,496 slaughtered animals since the "end" of the crisis on September 30th quoted by Mr Poole in his recent article. We feel therefore that the Minister may not have been correctly briefed and her figures do not include the animals that have, in recent weeks, been killed on suspicion of...of what?

Jan 9 ~ The Lords give the Animal Health (Death) bill its Second Reading on Tuesday.

This paper is one of those being sent to all peers who may be able to help.

Jan 9 ~ Farmers For Action is sending a final plea today to Sir Terry Leahy, Tesco's chief executive, demanding a meeting to discuss his commitment to help to improve farmers' incomes

"We don't understand why he is so stand-offish," Mr Honeybun said. "All the other supermarkets are working with us." See Times report
We are interested to see that the FFA has been in touch with José Bové, leader of Confédération Paysanne, the anti-globalisation group that has protested against the use by McDonald's restaurants of hormone-injected beef imported from the United States.

Jan 9 ~ The vet who killed all Didi's animals is reported to have said, in answer to a question about why he did not give these healthy animals a clinical examination, "This is a procedure that ....... could have caused actual harm to the heavily pregnant ewes present."

(The ewes were then shot - along with the other animals on the farm, none of whom were destined for the food chain, none of whom were diseased.) The vet went on to explain how such an examination would have been "extremely time consuming and stressful for both the family and most importantly the stock". The vet's behaviour has not been criticised by the RCVS. Read Didi's email and then see her last one in which she writes,

"My five cows, who were all over 15 years old and who were part of my Family, were shot dead in my building. My ewes were shot, some while they were in the process of lambing. A slaughterer told me later, that he was told to gut the ewes when they were put on the pyre, and he removed lambs from inside them which were still alive, he said that he had vomited into the mask he was wearing. My partner Nick was told by the slaughter vet, four days afterwards, that the killing of our animals had been pointless. We had to watch our animals burning across the valley for ten days. ".
As she says, "Is this the future under the Animal Health Bill I wonder?" We are gravely concerned that it would be and urge everyone to forward their concern about the Animal Health bill to the House of Lords.

Jan 8 ~No account is made of the "estimated "losses of the Welsh Farming Industry. Having seen the published "total" costs of FMD in Wales, Roy sends us this comment.

"In the past week I have observed the above report a number of times so I have concluded that there have been no reporting errors, It would appear that the addition of NAWAD'S Operating costs, the total amount paid in compensation and the "estimated" losses of the Tourist Industry account for the Grand Total.
Are they really such pathetic accountants in The National Assembly or do they find it impossible to report anything without distortion?
No account is made of the "estimated "losses of the Farming Industry.
The unnecessary imposition of "D" notices on hundreds of Welsh farms (none of them proved positive) paralysed the Beef and Sheep Industry and seriously disrupted the Dairy Industry. The depressed prices that Abattoirs got away with paying for stock in the absence of proper livestock auctions must have cost millions. The inability to sell cattle before they had reached the iniquitous 30 months of age (subject to legal action). The millions of animals disposed of under Welfare payments which were slashed overnight ( also subject to legal action). The excessive costs incurred in feed, labour - extended stay of wintering animals on Tack and the severely reduced Tack this winter. One could go on and on. The Welsh Farming Industry has lost an enormous amount of money for which no compensation whatsoever has been provided, and no-one even takes the trouble to mention it - let alone put in an "estimate". Do they want the Welsh people to believe that farmers have generally been over compensated so they are easy prey to the bitter and twisted spin that we are having to endure from Labour politicians?"

Jan 8 ~ Farmers for Action are meeting today to decide whether to step up blockades at depots belonging to Tesco.

David Handley's group has said it will target Tesco with the biggest mass action since the fuel protests of September, 2000, unless it agrees to begin high-level talks. The group is angry at the prices Tesco pays farmers for produce and wants a face-to-face meeting with chief executive Sir Terry Leahy.

Jan 8 ~ Some interesting news from Mark Purdey's website.

"Mark Purdey is now back from Germany with renewed vigour to mount an imminent legal assault on DEFRA's publication on the origins of BSE - as prepared by the Gabriel Horne Committee - which is considered to be defamatory towards his work. Having been awarded the "Acres USA Annual Eco-award" for his presentation at Minneapolis last December, he has now been invited for research and /or lectures in Vermont, Japan, Washington DC, Montana, Texas and Australia for the first half of 2002. But despite his growing recognition abroad, the UK' government's reductionist mindset on the cause of TSEs has still frozen him out of TSE research in the UK. Their media and medical spin doctors have successfully indoctrinated the entire nation onto the Meat and bone meal theory...."

Jan 7 ~ Paul Flynn, Labour MP for Newport West, will go far. He has written yet another attack against Welsh Farmers. What a perfect tool for his masters

who have themselves been working busily for months to vilify farmers in the eyes of the public. No doubt the ambitious and angry Mr Flynn will get the reward that is his due. A Welsh farmer, one who actually does understand what happened during the past miserable months, said after Mr Flynn's last effort, "His crass ignorance of the subject ( Rural Crisis arising out of the FMD epidemic) is indefensible. No M.P. should comment on any subject without making some effort to understand it - his comments are irresponsible and designed to cause unjustified division between the rural and urban communities.
Whilst a major disaster for Welsh farming, only a fraction of our farms were culled and compensated for losing their animals ( for the most part unnecessarily thanks to the Government that he's a part of ). As in all matters of compensation it can be argued that some farmers were paid more than their stock was "worth" but, until they have fully restocked no-one knows what prices they will have to pay and how much lost income they will have incurred in the meanwhile.
What is certain is that many farmers have not been adequately compensated for the trauma and the psychological damage to them and their children - particularly when the brutal inhumane killing of their animals was proved to have been totally unnecessary. .....(See full text)."

Jan 7 ~ Agriculture & Rural Development Committee investigation into the handling of the foot and mouth disease outbreak in Wales

The Agriculture and Rural Development Committee is to conduct a detailed scrutiny of the way in which Assembly Ministers handled the Foot and Mouth outbreak in Wales. The Committee intends to devote one or more of its public meetings in the New Year to questioning Assembly Ministers and to produce a short report identifying lessons that might be learned for the future.
To inform this scrutiny the Committee is inviting views from individuals and organisations affected by the foot and mouth disease outbreak in Wales. Should you feel there are specific questions or issues that the Committee should raise with Ministers, please send them by email to Agri-rural.comm@wales.gsi.gov.uk or post them to the address above to arrive by 21 January 2002.

Jan 7 ~ "We do need to be a little bit cautious" ( Recent newspaper reports do not seem to agree about what has been said by Professor Ian Wilmut of the Roslin Institute in Scotland

"Scientists seem to think that they can mix and match animals' genes in a controlled way, but actually the control is an illusion,'' said Sarah Kite, research and information director at the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection.
"No-one yet understands exactly how genes work or what the effects will be on the innocent animals who are subjected to biotechnology.''
Wilmut said he was "very disappointed'' by Dolly's condition but argued that further research into cloning, which has already produced hundreds of animals around the world, must go on. "It is a technology with enormous promise for the treatment of degenerative diseases...but we do need to be a little bit cautious,'' he said. PPL Therapeutics Plc, which helped to produce Dolly, and a U.S. joint venture set up by Novartis AG and BioTransplant Inc have both recently cloned pigs genetically altered to make their organs compatible with humans. (see graphic )

Jan 6 ~ We now have the Final Report and annex for the Brussels Conference 12-13th December.

Extract:
In her opening speech, the Minister in charge of Agriculture, and President of the Agriculture Council of the European Union, Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck, stressed that, in a most painful way, the FMD virus did not observe national boundaries.
At any time the virus could affect a sensitive population anywhere, after either deliberate or accidental introduction.
Any evaluation of the Foot and Mouth policy had not only to include the technical veterinary aspects but also the social, economical and ethical aspects
The Minister suggested the conference should address the following questions :
Is there no choice but to destroy millions of healthy animals to bring an outbreak of FMD under control?
Are the disadvantages of emergency vaccination so strong that we prefer to fight the virus with our bare hands?
What is the outcome of the costs benefit analyses of an eradication strategy versus a vaccination strategy? Should such an analysis take account of all consequences, i.e. the social consequences as well?
Are better vaccines available nowadays than 10 years ago, are there better laboratory tests allowing making a distinction between infected and vaccinated animals?
How can we avoid a similar situation in the future?
How do we handle the possible threat of a deliberate introduction of the virus into a sensitive population?
Finally, the images of burning animals and overcrowding of animals had turned the European consumer away from meat, intra-Community consumption had decreased and we had become increasingly dependent on exports. How could we escape this vicious circle ?

Jan 6 ~ Secret documents revealed last week under the 30-year rule complete the story of the most cynical smash-and-grab raid in the history of the European Union.

Booker's Notebook today concentrates entirely on the deception thirty years ago which led, not only to the shameful destruction of Britain's fishing industry, but also to the ever greater culture of deceit in British politics. "Under a regime which, for instance, permits French fishermen to catch 90 per cent of all cod in the English Channel, Britain's fishing industry, already savagely reduced on Brussels's orders, today faces terminal disaster. Ultimately there may have been no more damaging consequence to our national life of those events of 30 years ago than the way they engendered in politicians and civil servants that culture of deceit which has since become endemic throughout our government machine. What in 1971 was still shockingly new has now, in the age of Blair, become commonplace. Sir Edward, Knight of the Garter, has indeed left us a fearful legacy."

Jan 5 ~ The phrase "New World Order" is being used more and more by journalists, it seems.

Today's story in The Times, with the headline: Britain's new role as force for good, an irony that will not be lost on those already familiar with the phrase New World Order, we read that..."the Prime Minister will proclaim that after losing an empire Britain has at last found a "modern foreign policy role" as a "force for good" in world affairs after the September 11 attacks."
but this is immediately followed by the rather less admiring paragraph: "Yesterday, however, he was left scrambling to salvage the battered credibility of the Government's euro policy following a senior Treasury aide's admission that the decision on British entry will be "political" rather than economic. "
Iain Duncan Smith, the Tory leader, said last night: "Instead of talking about a new world order abroad, the Prime Minister should sort out the new disorder at home. "Health queues are lengthening, railways are on strike and violent crime is rampant."
Disorder at home is a ringing phrase. ( More ringing than the New Labour clichés referred to by Matthew Parris today). Shakespeare too knew all about disorder and what it symbolises, about ambition, about the effect of too much heady power and about good men who turn into villains. For how long much longer can the Prime Minister continue to smile and smile?

Jan 5 ~ Listeners to Radio Four's Any Questions and to the Jimmy Young show yesterday will have heard opinions expressed about the right of raving vandals to force their way onto farms.

To our utter amazement, many evidently thought it right and proper that they should do so, and do so with impunity. In this they are evidently of the same mind as DEFRA whose raving behaviour on thousands of farms in the past months will be made retrospectively legal by the Animal Health amendment Bill. Preparations for the further vandalisation - a Crystalnacht of huge and permanent proportions - of Britain's countryside are well under way - but we hadn't realised that so many ordinary British people also seem to feel that farmers and their property are fair game, and can only hope that the views expressed on the BBC were not as typical as we fear. Is there anyone there who was as shocked as we were? (Evidently, there are.)

Jan 5 ~ A new "Animal Welfare" bill is being planned by the Ministry of Defra...

In a DEFRA press release of Jan 2 Mr Eliot Morley says, "...We need to have in place legislation that not only protects animals against physical abuse, but also recognises quality of life and physiological needs. With the creation of DEFRA, most of the animal welfare laws are now under one roof. This provides a unique and timely opportunity to gather views, streamline and modernise outdated and unwieldy legislation. "
Modern legislation from Defra, as we all know, is streamlined and flexible beyond belief. To understand whether or not "Quality of life" and the "physiological needs" of pets and farm animals are really among DEFRA's first priorities one has only to remember what happened at the home of Carolyn Hoffe, at Gilwern or at any of the places mentioned on this page of shameful incidents.
DEFRA wants to hear views on the existing 11 Acts of Parliament governing the welfare of pets and farm animals. Concerned perhaps that the Animal Health bill, about to receive its second reading in the Lords, doesn't do enough in the area of animal health, DEFRA is considering the possibility of a new animal welfare bill,"pulling together current legislation and closing loopholes." Animal welfare groups, local authority representatives, courts, police and industry are to be consulted "in what will be a far reaching review drawing together the environmental and industrial concerns of animal welfare." Farmers and vets appear to be conspicuous by their absence in this group. Unless of course by the word "industry", Defra actually means "farming".

Jan 4 ~ At the Oxford Farming Conference today, Mrs Beckett has said "taxpayers expect better value for the billions of pounds spent each year on agriculture"

Taxpayers' money is always referred to when governments want to make political capital out of the electorate's irritation at paying taxes at all. Otherwise money spent miraculously transmigrates into "government funding". She might perhaps have added that the billions of pounds of "our" money spent by this government on the catastrophically wrong policy over FMD hasn't pleased us much either. In her inimitable style, she added the global dimension: ""Demands on the budget for agricultural support are coming under greater scrutiny across not just the EU, but the world. The pressure to reduce market-distorting subsidies is probably at an all-time high. And with the pressure to reduce subsidies and curtail budgets comes the pressure to identify our real priorities - to choose where the funding should go, when it cannot and will not go everywhere." Priorities of this government patently do not include letting farmers get on with the business they know best unfettered by rules and regulations that are daft at best and deeply destructive at worst.

Jan 4 ~ Margaret Beckett has attacked farmers for "complacency" in an interview given to Valerie Elliott of The Times in advance of her speech today at the Oxford Farming conference.

One wonders who is advising her. She said, "I am extremely sorry to hear that some farmers appear to want to attack the very people they need to rely on, the consumers" ....She is forgetting that recent polls have shown that ordinary people are seeing through the spin and feeling a great deal of sympathy for farmers. The "complacency" she complains of, with really breathtaking audacity, is that farmers are failing to take up "free business advice offered by the Government in the wake of the foot-and-mouth epidemic." Some of us think that some advice in the opposite direction might be timely. Politicians and business men might do well to learn about the traditional ways of the country; the delicate balance that needs to be maintained between taking what is needed, putting goodness back - and remembering that exploitation of the primary sources of production is not the way forward for a sustainable future.

Jan 4 ~ For the second time in two days we hear of a farmer being obstructed by the very police he had assumed would help him

Mr Graeme Stephen was trying to evict 70 ravers who had invaded his land when he was arrested by the police officer he had called in to help. It was the second time in a month that Mr Stephen had found his Essex property invaded by illegal partygoers. Up to 70 people had broken padlocks on the farm in Dunmow and set up their music system Mr Stephen had unplugged the revellers' generator and was in the midst of a stand-up row with them when a sergeant arrested him to prevent violence breaking out. (Times today) The email Adrianne sent yesterday after the news about farmer David Benton, seems even more apposite now.
What has Britain come to when Dixon of Dock Green arrests a man for defending his property, James Herriot aids and abets in the mad slaughter of healthy animals, our elected MP allows through on the nod legislation that seriously threatens our liberty and traditional British freedoms and our Prime Minister conspires to throw away our very sovereignty in his pursuit of power?

Jan 4 ~ If , as many have seriously suggested, there really is a hidden government agenda to close down family farms behind the ever more draconian regulations, red tape and legislation, it would appear to be succeeding.

According to a survey conducted by the Farmers' Union of Wales, Forty two per cent of farmers said their children did not want to join the family business when they were older, while a further 23 per cent said their children were as yet undecided.
Only one in three farmers with children said their children definitely wanted to farm. Six hundred farmers in Wales were interviewed for the survey, the results of which were described as "worrying" by the union's president, Bob Parry.

Jan 4 ~ We are delighted and grateful to see that the Queen has chosen to help farmers

by making the the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution one of the five charities to benefit from her 2002 Golden Jubilee. See the report in Ananova, which refers to the "recent" foot and mouth outbreak... The other four charities are: are Barnardo's, CRUSE Bereavement Services, I CAN (national education charity for children with speech and language difficulties) and the Soldiers, Sailors and Air Force Association (SSAFA).

Jan 3 ~ Robert Persey, a farmer from Honiton, Devon, has launched a fund-raising campaign under the slogan "We seek the truth"

(See also this email from December 21st) "The government doesn't want a national public inquiry because it doesn't want Tony Blair to have to give evidence," he claimed. Mr Persey was supported by a group of about 20 Young Farmers outside the Oxford Farming Conference. The judicial review, to be heard in London next month, will decide whether the government should be forced to hold a public inquiry into the foot and mouth crisis. Mr Persey said: "We need 1000 farmers and supporters, all wearing campaign T-shirts at the High Court when the case is held." A petition for a public inquiry last year attracted 126,000 signatures. It was backed by FARMERS WEEKLY, Western Morning News, Western Mail, Horse & Hound and The Journal, Newcastle. See the article from the Western Morning News

Jan 3 ~ Farmers for Action are living up to their name. David Handley has pledged to blockade distribution depots belonging to Tesco unless the supermarket agrees to talks by 8 January.

He wants talks with Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy to secure better prices for British farmers. Tesco - Britain's most profitable retailer which made £1 billion profit last year - forces farmers to sell produce at a loss. Sir Terry says he wants to deal only with the NFU.... The voluntary code of practice drawn up in an attempt to improve the relationship between farmers and supermarkets is open to wide interpretation, especially in areas such as changes to prices and payments and consumer complaints.

Jan 3 ~ Alarm about the European Union may seem irrelevant to the main concern of this website,

but when one is dealing with animal disease these days, one finds that everything is connected to everything else. Without the EU's influence the valuable breeding stock and many of the other animals slaughtered would still be alive, and the thousands of farmers who live in fear of the future and of a malevolent Ministry would be simply getting on with their lives. An extract from the Irish Times (see Democracy Watch) serves as a timely warning to the UK.
" Irish freedom was hard-won. It has lasted only 80 years. It is now being thrown away, in defiance of the will of the people expressed in the Nice referendum, so that politicians and bureaucrats can have a share, however tiny, in the intoxicating power of empire."

Jan 3 ~ We are still rubbing our eyes in disbelief at the story that the farmer David Benton, whose barn was invaded by New Year ravers causing hundreds of pounds worth of damage, has been told by police that he will be arrested if he tries to defend his property in future.

Mr Benton says that police did nothing as almost 100 ravers took over a turkey shed at his Lincolnshire home on New Year's Eve. 10-ton lorries crashed through a gate on his farm delivering disco equipment and alcohol. The story says a great deal about the police in this country, who were used to force farmers to give up healthy animals for slaughter but who find themselves "unable to intervene" when criminal damage is inflicted on farmers. (See Ananova) On the subject of private property, read this email about what is being proposed in America. Where the US leads Britain seems to follow. See also this email from Adrianne

Jan 2 ~ Among the speakers at the Oxford Farming Conference that begins tomorrow and lasts until Friday

will be Ross Finnie MSP, Baroness Byford, Matthias Berninger (Parliamentary State Secretary of Germany), Margaret Beckett, Richard Pender (President of FarmCorp Marketing International Ltd), Alastair Dickie (Director of Crop Marketing HGCA), Peter Barr (Chairman of MLC), Steven Sonka (Professor of Agricultural Strategy at the University of Illinois), Ewen Cameron. On Thursday there will be a DEBATE at the Oxford Union Society between Patrick Holden & Peter Melchett, Oliver Walston & John Gummer, Motion: "This House believes that by 2010, 30% of agricultural land should be certified as organic". See website. Margaret Beckett is expected to outline her vision for the future of farming at the Oxford Farming Conference. The two-day annual conference is called "Building Our New Industry". Will there be room in this brave new "industry" for those who actually care for the land, for animals and who want to put something back?

Jan 2 ~ We have received a despairing email : "This morning is New Year and my husband and I have avoided giving each other the customary greeting.

Last night, it was announced that over 2000 sheep, in Northumberland were to be killed,as two of them might have antibodies. We had already heard that empoyees of DEFRA engaged in slaughter had been told that their contracts would be renewed in February and that further slaughter was planned in the North- East. Do you know what is going on in Northumberland? We can see no reason for optimism about a New Year. We are still devastated by the last one and fear the Government, its power, and its intentions in the coming one, however we do wish you well."
It would seem that DEFRA and those manipulating DEFRA are continuing to use sero positives as an excuse for widescale slaughter of healthy stock (40,000 sheep in December alone) in order to make farmers feel despair and want to give up - unless there is still something in Northumberland that they want to cover up. It is thought possible that the epidemic began when a control group, treated with live foot and mouth virus during experiments on vaccine, spread the disease in the first place. This is thought to have happened in Northumberland several months before the outbreak was "discovered" in February. The motive that FMD status must be safeguarded by killing the whole flock is nonsensical after all this time. No one of any sanity wants to kill healthy stock. But there are, sadly, many insanely ambitious people in positions of power and influence who are very anxious for a cover up.
We understand farmers' pessimism. They have every reason and right to feel as they do and we don't blame any farmer for wanting to howl with frustration and anger. See today's story in the Guardian

Jan 2 ~ Reminder: Lord Willoughby is anxious to hear from farmers who have any opinions - pro or anti - about the Animal Health amendment Bill,

which receives its Second Reading in the House of Lords on Tuesday 14th December. He has heard from many people already and replies straight away. Rather a culture shock when one is used to writing to DEFRA, the Prime Minister ETC...

Jan 2 ~ We have been alerted to a piece of legislation in the United States that bears more than a passing resemblance to our own Animal Health amendment Bill which receives its Second Reading in the House of Lords on January 14th.

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons are urging people to sign the following petition
Model State Emergency Health Powers Act Petition
Dear President Bush:
We are writing to voice our opposition to the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act (MEHPA) drafted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and being sent to state legislatures with a recommendation for passage.
...........this bill would give public health officials and governors sweeping new authority to quarantine and vaccinate individuals. Moreover, the proposal allows government authorities to ration and commandeer drugs and other items, including firearms and private property. And yet what constitutes a real or possible "emergency" is left subject to wide interpretation, leaving the governors little or no accountability.
The bill is so alarming that even state legislators are publicly opposing it. .........The Governor does not have to consult the public health authority, the legislature, or the courts. He does not have to answer to anyone, ever, for the consequences of his actions. HHS will probably try to bribe or coerce the legislature into passing this law by threatening to withhold federal funds for state Medicaid or other health programs.

Dec 31 ~ Nick Clark: Weren't you a bit all over the place as a government on this? We had an extraordinary statement by Tony Blair only a few weeks really after the whole thing began saying, "the Countryside is open for business"

and here you are saying what you did say which was actually we need to close things down. Then at various times people have blamed ramblers and the farmers are unhappy about where people have gone and where they haven't and you haven't really been able to work out a strategy through all that, have you?
Nick Brown: Tony Blair handled this very well and I am very grateful to all my colleagues in government for the support that they gave and for the way we worked together through a very, very difficult set of circumstances..
Nick Clark:....the Devon Inquiry. It was full of people from Devon who didn't like what had happened to their county and it was a very unfriendly report. It said that you hadn't got a clue from the start and it said that if you'd only looked back to 1967 it would all have been different. I mean you must have read that and thought...what exactly?
Nick Brown| I thought it mostly nonsense. In fact we did very well compared to the 67 outbreak....
See the transcript of Nick Clark's interview with the former MAFF Minister, Nick Brown on the World at One today. No regrets, no apologies, no acknowledgements of mistakes made, no recognition of the flawed science and insane reliance on mathematical models instead of vets, no valid arguments against vaccination; in short, no apparent understanding of any kind of the enduring heartbreak and misery his government has caused throughout the affected counties. Instead, a softly spoken complacent eulogy - to himself and to the government. It simply takes the breath away.

Dec 31 ~ Brigadier Alex Birtwistle has been awarded a CBE in the New Year Honours list.

He postponed his retirement after senior officers urged him to continue overseeing the Army's involvement in the country's first mass burial site near Carlisle. Ananova describes him as "The man who masterminded the Army's battle against foot-and-mouth in Cumbria."
One of the most interesting things to come out of the You and Yours FMD programme in Birmingham was the way the brigadier, always tactful and charming, nevertheless left no one in any doubt about the lack of co-ordination and downright bureaucratic stupidity that he and his men were up against. Although we loathe what they were asked to do, we too have nothing but praise for the brigadier and the army in the worst months of the crisis. If our memory serves us well, we remember another tactful and charming man who was once honoured with the OBE. It was Professor Fred Brown after his work on FMD in the 1981 outbreak.

Dec 31 ~ W F Deedes, always worth reading, points out in his Notebook today the contempt and disillusion shown by the frugal Scots for MSPs and the new Scottish Parliament.

They do not view the prospect of spending £275 million for the new parliamentary building in Holyrood enthusiastically."It is, incidentally, unlikely to be the final figure. One reason for their disillusion is that MSPs are not seen to be measuring up to their cost to Scotland. .... Nor is it altogether happy at the prospect of granting Members of the Scottish Parliament a pay rise of 11 per cent. The present salary of £42,000 plus expenses is not princely, but it compares favourably with what Scottish hill farmers and other country folk are taking home just now. Many of Scotland's countrymen are in desperately low water."

Dec 31 ~ TOMORROW, the euro will take physical form. Everyone in Britain should wish the project well.

begins a very readable leader in today's Telegraph"Quite apart from wanting our allies in Western Europe to be successful, our national interest is linked to theirs..... One of the most extraordinary developments of recent days has been the sight of Tony Blair and Neil Kinnock trying to use the acceptance of euro coins by retailers as an argument for British membership.
Of course shops in airports and in tourist areas will deal in euros. They have taken dollars, francs and marks for decades; the truly odd development would be if they were to stop accepting the currency of our largest neighbours.
The idea that greater familiarity with euro notes will tangibly alter public attitudes reveals a deeply patronising view of the British people. The reason that most people want to keep the pound is not that they have some kind of medieval fear of the unknown, but that they want the governance of their country to remain in their own hands."

Dec 30 ~ The Animal Health Bill will have its Second Reading in the Lords on Monday 14th Jan.

Lord Willoughby de Broke would very much like to get some reaction before then from farmers in particular who are aware of the Bill and who have views on it - for or against. He will be doing his own research but anyone who could send him an email on the subject (having had some thoughts about the Animal Health amendment bill) would help him to test the waters more thoroughly than he could do on his own. Remember the excellent summary about the Animal Health bill on the paper from the Northern Short-Tailed Sheep Group with support from Rare Breeds International and Traditional Livestock Foundation here.

Dec 30 ~ On the subject of the RCVS failure to censure the vets against whom legitimate and very serious complaints have been lodged,

there is this informative email from Bryn, and we read from the Beats' newsletter last night: "Yes we are disappointed too - but not surprised. The veterinary profession has dug itself into a very deep hole over FMD and it probably sees the least bad choice as continuing to pretend that there was never any problem at all in co-operating fully with illegal, immoral, inhumane and unnecessary slaughter alongside the police, the army, DEFRA and others who were "just following orders, guv". Is there a single example, in our society, of a profession where "self-regulation" works?"

Dec 29 ~ It is strange that Prof King and others claim that it is impossible to tell infected from vaccinated animals. ..From the United Biomedical website.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease caused by the Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus (FMDV) is the most economically significant disease of domestic livestock. In response to 1997 outbreak of FMD in swine in Taiwan, UBI developed a highly specific series of peptide based diagnostic tests capable of detecting FMDV infection, and uniquely capable of differentiating FMDV vaccinated from infected animals. This give UBI a competitive advantage in confronting the FMD pandemic that emerged in 2001......UBI is the only producer in the world today of commercial scale user-friendly tests that detect FMDV infection and differentiates vaccinated from infected animals. UBI is working with the Council of Agriculture of Taiwan and the United States Department of Agriculture for registration of the UBI FMDV Differential EIA diagnostics. The UBI FMDV tests have completed trials in 18 other countries under auspices of the FAO/Int'l Atomic Energy Agency, and registration efforts are underway with the Office International des Epizooties and other government agencies.

Dec 29 ~ The total number of animals - sheep, pigs, goats deer and "others" - slaughtered in November (i.e. in the month following the last recorded case) showed an increase of a staggering 62,496.

Only cattle showed a decrease. Of these figures, sheep (39,840) and pigs (23,674) make up the bulk. Most of these were slaughtered as DCs on both "Contiguous" and "Non-Contiguous Premises", "contiguous" meaning "bordering an infected premises". Willy Poole, writing in the Telegraph today about the figures obtained from the Defra site continues, By now I expect that you are as confused as I am and asking the question: what infected premises? Mr Poole is in no doubt that these are new infections. ".....so it is attempting to paper over foot and mouth by writing up new infections as "DCs" (Dangerous Contacts) and "SOSs" (Slaughter on Suspicion).
If he is right, then the new Animal Health bill, rushing through Parliament, will be in place very soon to ensure are there are no tiresome objections to the legality of DEFRA's bloody, sledgehammer policies of "eradication". What it is exactly that the government wishes to eradicate is another matter.

Dec 29 ~" This weekend marks the three-month milestone since the last reported case of foot-and-mouth in the UK. It means there is a chance the country will be declared free of the disease in time for the new year.........."

This is the news in the Times and other papers today under headlines such as, "Farm Crisis to end by New Year". While the population at large could be forgiven for thinking, (if they think about it at all), that therefore foot and mouth is fading from farmers' minds and that all is back to normal, the reality is expressed in the anger and resolve of this email received today:
"Christmas hasn't happened for us this year. Maybe next year..God willing..If we are all still here after another year of this lunatic government. Will it be a happy new year for all those that have suffered as the result of MAFF/DEFRAs antics this past year gone? Maybe not. But I hope that Euro President Blah Blah Blair does not underestimate the resolve and will power of the British farmer. This lunatic is so desperate that we should all contribute happily to a global economy...he does not have the wit to realise that this will be at the expense of our farms and farmers. This is a price that must not be paid. What other country would sacrifice their way of life to ensure that other countries should prosper? None I would bet! What mugs we are! 'Buy British' can be our only motto if our farms are to survive. ... To say that the year 2001 has been a year of worry and fear would be a complete understatement. It has been a nightmare for most people with a conscience and (except for the agribusiness barons) for all members of the farming community.."
See also Democracy watch today; The prospect of British taxes being raised and collected by Brussels moved a step closer yesterday when Germany's finance minister heralded the introduction of the euro as a major step towards a Europe-wide tax system.

Dec 28 ~ Mr David Black has publicly disagreed (in the Cumberland News) with Mr Scudamore

who said, in The Times, that the mass slaughter of animals in the foot and mouth outbreak might have been avoided, if only we'd had more vets.. "It wasn't the number of vets, it was the way in which they were used," "We were like cannon fodder being sent out of the trenches. Local vets were not used effectively. "There was no structure, no hierarchy, just blanket policies from London which we were expected to carry out." said Mr Black, who is a member of the Royal Society Inquiry commissioned by the UK Government into Infectious Diseases in Livestock
Also in the Cumberland News : "DEFRA has put in a retrospective planning application to turn the airfield at Great Orton into a mass grave. The move throws into doubt whether the Government was within its rights to push through the plan without restrictions after just one full day's consultation with the Environment Agency. Last night a DEFRA spokesman admitted the move was an attempt to "square the circle". And Labour MP Eric Martlew said the Animal Health Bill - which will make it more difficult for farmers to appeal against the culling in future - was recognition that there were "things we did not have the legal powers for".

Dec 28 ~ The Today Programme's round up of foot and mouth continued this morning

The arguments Professor King has clung to have been refuted many times, not least on this website, and we are confident that there will be scholarly and knowledgeable voices ready to demolish what he said this morning. The question is: will the media let them be heard? An example of Professor King's muddled understanding is his response to the interviewer's reference to Professor Fred Brown's claim that there are diagnostic tests to distinguish vaccinated from infected animals. He said:
1- "the test is called the "fast cycler"" (sic) comment/question: has the Tetracore Smart Cycler on a Cepheid platform ever been called the "fast cycler"? If so, when? Is King talking about another device?
2- "the "fast cycler" is used to distinguish between vaccinated and infected animals" comment/question: My understanding is that the Tetracore smart cycler on a Cepheid platform is not intended to distinguish between vaccinated and infected animals (it tests for the 7 FMDV serotypes). Other tests are designed for this purpose, eg the UBI FMDV diagnostic kits which detect antibodies triggered by a nonstructural protein 3B which would only be present in an infected animal. The current killed virus vaccines are manufactured by removing nonstructural proteins from the virus, so that the vaccine will elicit antibodies only to the structural proteins; thus if a nonstructural protein is detected the animal must have developed antibodies from infection rather than from vaccination. ( UBI website: www.unitedbiomedical.com/; see also FMDV'CHECKR www.alldiag.com for a different device )
3- "validation tests have shown that the "fast cycler" incorrectly identifies a (significant?) number of positives as negatives." comment/question: Have the field validation in Uruguay been completed (for the Tetracore smart cycler on a Cepheid platform) ? What are the results? Have the lab validation tests been published yet? What are the results?

Dec 28 ~"The Animal Health Bill is unnecessary, infringes civil liberties, is based on unsafe and bad science, and threatens breeds of special genetic importance with extinction."

Extract from the informative and scholarly Information document prepared by: Northern Short-Tailed Sheep Group with support from Rare Breeds International and Traditional Livestock Foundation published today on this website.

Dec 27 ~ The movement restrictions, contemptuously ignored by intelligent farmers and shepherds where they are clearly daft (such as where a licence is required for moving sheep across a road from one half of a field to the other on the opposite side) are nevertheless still causing the most dire hardship to obedient farmers and hapless animals

- and no government help is there to counterbalance this government meddling in the name of so-called "bio-security" Defra spokesman : "Statutory compensation was paid only for animals which have been slaughtered as a result of the outbreak or for animals which have been destroyed in order to prevent spread of the disease. There are no statutory provisions for compensating farmers who are unable to move their stock. In any case the Government does not compensate farmers or businesses for other indirect losses." One wonders how these well-fed, warm and complacent denizens of Page Street think that losses are "indirect" when it is DEFRA orders and the inefficiency of their own system that can cause animals to die of cold and starvation. Farmers can have these animals slaughtered and wasted, mouths DEFRA, but don't expect us to foot the bill.
"...thousands of farmers who were within 10km of an outbreak could not send their livestock to market even though they were not infected, and thus saw their income disappear. Nobody has compensated them. The National Farmers' Union estimates uncompensated losses to farmers at £965million...." Independent this morning.

Dec 27 ~ "What is the point of an inquiry if it doesn't have the legal powers to force key witnesses to give evidence? I believe that a full public inquiry is the only way of getting at the truth, however difficult or embarrassing for individuals that truth may be."

Bob Parry, president of the Farmers' Union of Wales, said 2001 would go down as farming's worst year. ........The cost of controlling the disease is put at more than £2 billion. .......The emotional stress of witnessing generations of work destroyed in an instant has been too great for many farmers. Some have decided to call it a day and leave farming for good. Others have taken their own lives." The Telegraph this morning.

Dec 27 ~ The Today Programme's round up of foot and mouth was broadcast this morning.

Half truths were allowed to pass unchallenged, eminent scientists and vets who could have been asked to tell the truth about the disastrous nature of the policy or give their views on the present viability of vaccination were not asked to do so and very little indeed was said about the extraordinarily illogical and sweeping provisions of the Animal Health amendment bill. Most members of the public having no personal interest in the issue, will have assumed that the government did the best it could and that farmers were to blame for both the outbreak and its scale. We had hoped for something more truthful and more hard hitting - but perhaps tomorrow's instalment will be an improvement.

Dec 27 ~ Astounding quotations from Mr Scudamore in an article in The Times today by Valerie Elliott :

"Comments that I am against models are untrue. Models have a very important role . . . But we must scrutinise the model and ensure the policy is deliverable and validated." Well yes, we must. For a start, it would be useful to get right the facts about the spread of this virus, which, by all the most informed accounts, does not travel in the air but is spread by direct contact - a fact that makes utterly flawed the modelling by the three "independent" teams. The so-called contiguous cull was a heartbreaking and unnecessary catastrophe as Mr Scudamore well knows. Ms Elliott adds that Mr Scudamore accepted, "that there had been a problem with the presentation of the contiguous cull. " The presentation of it? Is Mr Scudamore suggesting here that the contiguous cull would have been all right if it had been "presented" differently? Admitting openly that it is, after all, all just a matter of spin?
He defended the Animal Health Bill, about to be introduced in the Lords, which will limit a farmer's right of appeal against slaughter of animals in any disease outbreak, adding: "The most important thing is that it should not happen again." We would have said that the important thing was rather to get to the bottom of the motives fuelling this untimely bill, with its attempt retrospectively to legalise the illegal killings of the past months, its placing of absolute power in the hands of the Minister and the silencing of all others involved. Mr Scudamore, promoted to Director General Animal Health at Defra, added: "Vaccination remains an option, but it could still be ruled out. We need to look at the particular controls imposed on products from vaccinated animals. We can only gaze in despair at such a promotion and at such words. The opposers of vaccination have stopped pretending that vaccination doesn't work and have fallen back yet again on the ludicrous argument about trade controls - as if they are written on tablets of stone. They can so easily be changed if only the ignorance that was rife in Brussels about the nature of OIE "rules", could be exchanged for understanding - but in a meeting at the recent FMD conference there, the delegates were uninformed and baffled by the issues surrounding "FMD free status with or without vaccination" and one important British player simply walked out rather than admit he didn't understand.

Dec 26 ~ Don't forget the elephants.

A letter in today's Telegraph quotes from a DEFRA schedule of conditions for a licence to shoot game birds. "No person shall participate in a shoot if they have come in contact with cattle, sheep. goats, pigs, deer or elephants..."" It would seem that Defra has finally parted company with its trolley" is the writer, Peter Duckworth's comment.

Dec 26 ~ The Queen's speech was downbeat. She reflected on how the UK had been hit by floods as well as the foot-and-mouth epidemic, with devastating consequences.

"But whilst many of these events were of natural origin, it was the human conflicts and the wanton acts of crime and terror against fellow human beings which have so appalled us all," she said. She sounded as though she meant it. Listening, we remembered how the foot and mouth virus was as nothing to the cruelty inflicted on the rural communities by the human powers of destruction. We were impressed by the Queen's calm and genuine tone of voice. We are so used to the pretence of politicians that hearing her was a relief. If the "modernising" grey reformers have their way such voices - those of Prince Charles and people of integrity and independence in the House of Lords: those who put duty before money, power and party politics - will be silenced. We will be left with the unctuous tones of the "reformers" themselves and it will be far too late to regret it.

Dec 24 ~ " Regrettably the status accorded to Pirbright, instead of increasing its efforts, has apparently led to complacency and apathy on account of its monopoly of the subject. " The Moredun Research Institute too is less than helpful.

Although it has no statement to make on its website for or against vaccination, nor tries to explain what the problems might be with or without vaccination, nor makes any effort to inform the public - yet, when asked in mid December 2001, a member of its staff, whose last major involvement with Foot-and-Mouth Disease would appear to have been some 22 years ago, now pontificates that vaccination for FMD in the UK should be "dismissed". Is politics the motivation rather than science? The Scottish Farmer published an article on friday in which Dr Nettleton (see entry for Dec 15th) has again informed readers that if a vaccination policy had been implemented "we would still be in the middle of the epidemic."
The Moredun Research Institute website (www.mri.sari.ac.uk), when searched for Foot-and-Mouth Disease, cruelly refers the inquirer to the MAFF,NFU, NFUS, Quality Meat Scotland, Sheep Veterinary Society, British Cattle Veterinary Association and Pig Health websites and to no one else. Ironically, as evidenced by the recent Brussels Conference, Continental Europe now appears to be taking a rational look at the use of vaccination, with the UK still playing cover-up politics for its major contribution to the worst FMD disaster in history. Unfortunately, virtually all the farmers in Scotland (and many in Cumbria) will have read Dr Peter Nettleton's wild-cat statement which contradicts the international experience of those who have worked extensively, productively and effectively on the control of FMD. (See email)

Dec 24 ~ Since posting the item about Defra and Powys below, we have received the following which may, perhaps, be a possible explanation. We very much hope so.

" I read about the C&D in Wales and have several suggestions as to what this may relate to..."
1) It may be a farmer or group of farmers, who did not want DEFRA back on their farms. One new form says that if you don't do secondary cleansing, the farm will remain closed for 12 months. Maybe they are allowing DEFRA on after all?
2) Health and Safety regs re C&D, say that the buildings must be made safe first. So maybe the builders have now repaired dangerous buildings, and they are now ready for cleansing.
3) Maybe there was bad access to the buildings, and a roadway had to be built first?
4) In Devon the are still 100's of farms which haven't been cleansed.
5) Part of DEFRA's C&D involves restoring pyre sites on farm. In one county (Cornwall) this has involved bring in top soil at the cost of £10,000 per site!

Dec 23 ~ "As the disease finally peters out, the government has refused to hold an inquiry into the epidemic. If it did, it would reveal a catalogue of blunders": the article in today's Sunday Times

entitled "Foot and Mouth..the Blunders" is a scathing attack on the lack of preparedness for a disaster that the government had been warned about many months before. The article deplores the reduction in the veterinary service, points out the uselessness of the contingency plan and says that the ministry had no accurate list of farmers or their farms even though it was paying £1.3 billion in livestock subsidies each year. All very true. Unfortunately the article is unsatisfactory in some ways. It repeats the old story of how the virus, once having "entered the country" was "spreading, it seems likely, among pigs at the farm of Bobby Waugh at Heddon-on-the-Wall in Northumberland." and then quotes John Wilesmith's theory that " the virus was probably carried by the wind to another farm five miles away at Prestwick Hall, where it infected sheep. From there, sheep were sent to other markets that spread the disease further..." It is precisely because of this sort of flawed understanding that we do so urgently need a proper public inquiry. The virus spread "on the wind"? For five miles? Isn't it time that this sort of mistake was corrected? Nor were the blunders of the foot and mouth crisis restricted to lack of vets or accurate knowledge about the whereabouts of farms. There is nothing in this well-meaning article about the insanity of the contiguous cull policy or the reasons behind that policy, nothing about the jackboot tactics of DEFRA officials and nothing enlightening to say about vaccination; it merely deplores Mr Blair's "misjudgement" in not inviting Ben Gill to his mid-March meetings. However, the appearance of an article such as this does go some way to show that foot and mouth is an issue that will not go away simply because DEFRA says there have been no outbreaks since September 30th.
Far more worrying is the information below that .....:

Dec 23 ~ DEFRA have contacted workers previously employed to carry out Disinfecting and Cleaning work and told them that there will be new work available for them in Powys in January.

No explanation given. We find this prediction bizarre and sinister in the extreme. D and C follows slaughter. Just what is DEFRA planning for Powys that can wait until January? We very much hope that our fears about this are unfounded.

Dec 22 ~ Throughout the whole FMD crisis Defra has maintained that deer do not spread foot and mouth. This article in today's Telegraph reveals their inconsistency as well as their lack of Christmas Cheer in the matter of Santa's reindeer.

Extract: if wild deer in Devon and Cumbria have played no part in spreading foot and mouth, and only a proper public inquiry will tell us otherwise, why does Defra believe that strictly supervised and monitored reindeer will now spread foot and mouth?
And if anyone were still in any doubt about the existence of a sense of humour at Defra this story in the Independent would seem to have an answer...Apparently, two children, Michael and Sarah Thompson, wrote to the Farmers' Chronicle newspaper voicing their concerns that Santa might not be allowed to visit their farm in Cleveland. Defra officials at the licensing unit in Leeds have ruled that Santa and his reindeer can make all his visits "providing he lands only on rooftops" Heartwarming indeed.

Dec 22 ~ Mr Blunkett's terrorism Act and DEFRA's Animal Health amendment bill are both bad and unnecessary curbs on traditional British freedoms - and we go on banging on about it long after the Media fall silent because it is so important.

We read today that the supposed terror ship Nisha, seized in international waters by Royal Navy commandos yesterday, seems not to be a terror ship after all. A team of officers trained to search vessels, helped by military experts with specialised equipment for detecting explosives have not found anything suspicious on board. Its owners, the Great Eastern Shipping Company, have cooperated fully. Meanwhile Djamel Ajouaou, a Moroccan, one of eight men held because of suspected links with the al-Qaeda network, was denied bail at an appeal hearing. A 20-page Home Office document, in support of the Government's claim that he should be kept in custody following his detention under the new anti-terrorism law was put before the court on behalf of David Blunkett, the Home Secretary. Coinciding with the widely publicised seizing of the Nisha the document gave warning of the dangers of a "devastating" nuclear attack, a strike on the London Underground using an explosive device, or from a biological or chemical weapon. It says that although the latter weapons would be likely to cause less immediate destruction, they would lead to widespread public alarm. The boarding of the Nisha apparently followed an intelligence report sent to MI5 "a few weeks ago" which gave warning that terrorist equipment was to be concealed in a general cargo vessel arriving in Britain from Djibouti. Media reports such as this one from the Daily Record, spoke of "Nisha's deadly cargo" and said it " was to be used in a suicide attack on a high-profile London target, like Downing Street or Parliament." adding, " The ship could take days to search. .." Even the Times wrote: security reports suggested was carrying terrorist material that would "rock the City of London". Who was it who said that those who sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither?

Dec 22 ~ In spite of the above, we have not lost our faith in the High Court. A Public Inquiry seems increasingly possible and indeed may even be probable.

The High Court case, in which the claimants challenge the decision of the Secretary of State that the government inquiries be held in private, has now been fixed before the Divisional Court of the Queen's Bench Division, sitting at the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand, for 4 days beginning on Tuesday 19th February. The hearing will be open to the public (best to get there by 10.00 a.m.)
See also this message from Guy Thomas-Everard concerning another case.

Dec 21 ~ The irony implicit in the MMR vaccine story will not have escaped many readers of this website.

Here on the one hand is a situation where vaccine for humans is causing real concern about possible autism, and where a doctor, Dr Andrew Wakefield, who had the temerity to raise such concern, was forced out of the Royal Free Hospital. GPs back the Government in most cases, because they believe the jab works - but many receive a bonus tied to their inoculation programmes. The government strongly promotes the triple vaccine and then, ludicrously, complains when John Humphrys insists that a government minister come clean about her own personal stance. Mr Blair refuses to say whether baby Leo has had the jab, naturally giving rise to speculation that he has not. Vaccination is good, insists the government.
On the other side, a vaccine for animals against foot and mouth, shown to be successful in many parts of the world and backed by eminent foot and mouth experts, is denied to us in circumstances that are equally bizarre. No farmer or pet owner is permitted to buy the vaccine privately. ( For an outlay of £300 a private individual is, at present, permitted to buy the human vaccine separately in six separate shots. )
The financial incentive behind the consistent rubbishing of the available FMD vaccines is less clear but no doubt originates with the pharmaceutical companies and their attendant scientists.
What is common to both vaccine stories is an increasing awareness among the public that the whole truth is being witheld for reasons that have nothing at all to do with health - human or animal.

Dec 20 ~ DEFRA's "accurate reflection of reality" and "continuing exercise of quality assurance"

Sam M tells us that he asked DEFRA why the "affected premises" figures on the DEFRA site were rising (in the 2 days from 12th to 14th December they had risen by 21) He tells us that he received the following reply today:
" ..There are a couple of reasons. Firstly, new seropositive cases arising from surveillance zone serology and sheep movement blood tests are being confirmed as Dangerous Contacts (DCs). Secondly, all data contained on the Disease Control System is being checked and amended as part of the continuing exercise of quality assurance. For example multiple DCs may have previously been recorded under a single premise address. These records have been updated to reflect that each premises should be recorded individually and therefore this increases the number of affected premises. Another example is premises slaughtered under the 3km cull in cases where they were not previously entered as DCs. As this is an ongoing task the number of affected premises should rise steadily until the data can be regarded as an accurate reflection of reality. We anticipate this to be finalised in a couple of months. I hope this answers your enquiry satisfactorily."....
Sam admits however to being as baffled as ever. "Seropositive results merely mean that sheep had the disease and quietly recovered, doesn't it? They are hardly "dangerous contacts" since it is impossible to infect another animal with one that has recovered and developed antibodies. As for multiple DCs recorded under a single address needing to be recorded individually, this seems rather odd." We agree. This may all seem to DEFRA like part of the continuing exercise of quality assurance ; to us it looks like something rather different from "an accurate reflection of reality"

Dec 20 ~ The Royal Society of Edinburgh FMD Inquiry is now underway. We recommend it as being much more wide ranging than the Royal Society of London Inquiry.

Its findings will be made public and could have wide influence outside as well as within Scotland i.e. the UK as a whole; Europe as well as internationally. There are two subcommittess: 1) Biological and Research 2) Economic Aspects
The Society states that it would like submissions by 7th January 2001, but they are willing to take submissions after that date, but the sooner the better. 20th January would be a more realistic deadline and we do urge those who can to make their submissions by that date. You do not have to live in Scotland for your views to be very welcome.

Dec 20 ~ The NFU appear alarmed at the popularity of the Rural Rebels in Scotland.

In spite of the BBC's misleading headline "Farmers' plea to Rebels" it seems apparent that most actual farmers, as opposed to union officials, are right behind the attempts of the protestors in Scotland. Their protests are beginning to snowball, bringing long neglected issues to the forefront of the news at last. As the BBC reports: More than 20 organisations are reported to have joined the broadband Rural Rebels campaign in a bid to secure... a better deal for the countryside from politicians. The umbrella group has used a variety of tactics to publicise demands for an independent public inquiry into foot-and-mouth disease, the right to peaceful country pursuits and the right to educate country children in country schools. NFUS president Jim Walker has said that there is a "grave danger" that the current action by Rural Rebels could "actually start to alienate large numbers of people by blocking bridges or blocking roads" but the actions of the group have been entirely lawful so far. After the year's hardships and lack of coherent leadership independent of the government, many farmers are asking what right the NFU has to speak on behalf of them and why the NFU voice is reported so often to be that of "farmers".

Dec 19 ~ Extract from the submission to the Royal Society which should be required reading for all deskbound DEFRA employees: "Indeed, not only were many Infected Premises later shown to test negative to the disease, but the percentage of infected stock culled as a result of Contiguous Cull, Slaughter on Suspicion, Dangerous Contact is estimated to be only about 18.5%. Conversely, a staggering 81.5% were healthy and not infected.

(Source - Prof David King giving evidence to EFRA Select Committee 7 November 2001).
9.1.7 Then, to further add to the number of healthy animals that had to be slaughtered as a result of this policy, are those resulting from the imposition of movement restrictions and the loss of export markets. The number slaughtered as a result of Welfare Culls now stands at 2,010,753 Source - DEFRA - 3 Dec 2001), under the livestock disposal scheme.
It should also be noted that there was severe cruelty and suffering inflicted on livestock as a result of movement restrictions. Animals were stranded on outlying fields and holdings and often without fodder, bedding or shelter. Ewes were forced to lamb in dreadful field and weather conditions, and then lambs had to remain in flooded fields with no grazing or shelter. Dairy heifers were calving down in fields away from farms, again with no shelter and facilities, and in totally unsuitable conditions and circumstances.
.... Movement restrictions also led to animal being stranded without sufficient grazing, and often farmers could not afford supplementary feed to prevent starvation.
Not only did this cause immense distress and suffering to the animals, but also to those farmers and vets who were left powerless to deal with the consequences.
In other circumstances these occurrences would have been viewed as legal offences and would have been the subject of prosecutions. There is undoubtedly a conflict of interest within DEFRA in managing, both, the FMD control program, and at the same time, promoting animal welfare. ......
One of the authors of this report has personal experience of being sent a slaughter team of one man and a boy to handle load and slaughter some 180 pigs where there was no mechanical system for loading the pigs and only one worker on the farm."

Dec 19 ~ Today's news is that NHS Waiting list figures have been "massaged" The Times reports that nine NHS trusts "inappropriately adjusted" their waiting lists

- apparently to meet tough waiting time targets, according to a report....Adjustments led to several hundred patients being deleted from waiting lists, a report from the Parliamentary watchdog the National Audit Office said. How tired we are of government pretence, red tape and bureaucracy...which encourage both the perpetrators and those they manipulate to "delete" inconvenient facts and figures. Instead of instigating improvements by encouraging people nearest to the real difficulties in society and who really understand what those difficulties are: classroom teachers, nurses, policemen on the beat, and farmers - government Ministers, maddened by spin and propaganda, arrogantly believe that all their ignorant "top down" interference, their "target setting" and their insistence on mounds of documentation are doing something to help. They do nothing to help and everything to hinder and infuriate. Why else are teachers, nurses, doctors, policemen and farmers leaving their once-loved vocations in their droves? Throwing money at the problem does not help because it never, ever gets to the right place. The much vaunted "grants" and "funds" we hear so much about are in reality only as substantial as all the hot air of figures, statistics, of targets and charters . Massaged statistics are the way a corrupt government tries to hoodwink its people into thinking that everything is under control and going well - but, as on the DEFRA website, for example, figures tend to be meaningless. Mere numbers....4 million dead... £4 million election advertising campaign... NHS waiting time targets met.... The reality is very different. ( Audit Office report)

Dec 18 ~ "one of the biggest blows to environmental protection and democracy in the past 50 years"

Our Democracy watch page today quotes extracts from Telegraph reports of the measures which will allow nuclear waste dumps, power stations, airports and trunk roads to be built without residents having the right to object to them at a public inquiry. Also from last week's report that county councils, the principal opponents of excessive housing development in the countryside, will have their powers removed. The government must be rubbing their hands in mixed satisfaction and disbelief at the lack of public outcry. However, this sullen silence is a deafeningly loud indication of public despair.
As in the aftermath of the foot and mouth policies which have left so many thousands feeling isolated, desperate and powerless, many people in Britain have merely lost all faith in the institutions that used to attempt to speak for them.
Even when 15,000 do march in Edinburgh, having made difficult, expensive and awkward journeys to show solidarity, they are carefully and cynically described as snobs and blood-thirsty fox-hunters and their legitimate grievances ignored.
Is it surprising that so many farmers, country people and others still awake enough to see what is happening are tempted to turn their faces to the wall, suffer in silence and try to live their lives in isolation? Let no one think, however, that they don't rage at the dying of the light. Their silence stems neither from apathy nor acceptance. The virus that has come to Britain is still with us and operating in a most deadly way. It has killed the truth and people do not know where to turn for help.

Dec 17 ~ The Earl of Lytton writes for many of us in a Telegraph letter entitled, " Totalitarian plan" It is a characteristic of all totalitarian regimes that they get an inflated idea of their own abilities and resounding successes.

"They make grand plans for sectors where their knowledge is lacking, and silence informed and constructive criticism by oppressive use of regulatory powers. They then blame others when there is sectoral economic failure. On the first proposal, it is clear that in many rural areas we are a long way short of adequate telephone lines for fax communication, let alone a quality data transfer facility, and we are years off getting all farmers on e-mail. As to the second, is there not now incontrovertible evidence that the Government has proved itself ineffective in rural land-use planning and management, over food hygiene and animal health matters? "
Arnold Pennant echoes this with the comment: "....Once upon a time countryside matters were managed by those who actually worked and lived there, but this Government has adopted the order of the jackboot to administer that part of our society about which it knows little. " (For full letters, see Newspaper page)

Dec 17 ~ Yesterday's march in Edinburgh, although widely reported as a Pro-hunting demonstration, was attended by 15,000 frustrated and angry country people who had many other things on their minds.

There was little reporting of the areas of greatest concern such as there being no full inquiry on foot-and-mouth disease, dismay at the way the access to the countryside bill is proceeding, the closure of rural schools, deep anxiety at the implications of the Animal Health bill, and the lack of a coherent rural transport policy. The traditional lives of country people everywhere is now threatened - but it is in the interests of the government to portray the protestors as 'pro-hunting' since that label carries such an emotive charge and hides such underlying and deep-rooted enmities. It is an emotional issue masquerading as a rational one. People on both sides of the hunting debate seem to lose the power to see any humanity in the other side and it is undoubtedly a powerful weapon for the government - and one that brought New Labour huge popular support and financial backing. It is also an issue that continues to blind many to the massive and unnecessary cruelties perpetrated this year in the country. Many of the marchers yesterday were saying how disgusted they are at the amount of time the Scottish Parliament had spent on dealing with the Watson Bill on fox hunting while there were so many other urgent issues needing to be dealt with.

Dec 17 ~ Plans will be announced today to stop people challenging the need for new roads, airports, nuclear dumps and power stations at public inquiries.

The countryside is being opened up to development. County councils, the principal opponents of excessive housing development in the countryside, will have their powers removed under the most radical planning "reforms" for 50 years. The Planning Green Paper proposes to strip away a democratically-elected layer of the system for approving developments, replacing it with a two-tier system of neighbourhood or village plans, drawn up by district councils, and regional plans drawn up by as yet unelected bodies. Factories and Offices will be allowed to be developed in the countryside "business planning zones" without the need to seek planning permission. As ever greater regulations tighten around farmers, those big businesses wanting to use the British countryside for other uses are to be protected from democratic dissent, it seems.

Dec 16 ~ The Independent on Sunday reports that Ministers from Tony Blair down are convinced that the public will never accept another mass cull

and believe that recent scientific advances will enable them to vaccinate widely instead. Which members of "the public" were happy to condone the mass cull in Britain? In the nine months that this website has been protesting about the FMD policy of stamping out we have received only three emails that criticised our stance against thousands read from like minded people. We somewhat wearily point out that there has, in fact, been nothing since the beginning of the catastrophe that is radically "new"; that all these tests, vaccines and strategies were available from the outset - had there only been a will to use them. A properly conducted inquiry in Europe may well have something to say about this.

Dec 16 ~ Today in the Sunday Telegraph, Booker's Notebook takes as its main story the strangely vindictive case against 22 year old Kirstin McBride in Dumfries.

" Under the law, before Misty was killed, Miss McBride should have been served with a 'Form A notice' declaring her home 'an infected place'. No one ever claimed that the goat was infected or been exposed to infection. To this day Serad has been unable to produce a Form A notice, although last week Miss McBride was served with a 'Form B', requiring her home to be kept under surveillance, with a note to say that this was to replace the Form A which has never been served."
As Christopher Booker explains, Kirstin's pet goat was killed in April even though it had not been out of the garden and was perfectly healthy.
She has been in court in April, July, August, September and October as well as last week, when she was told the case would now be heard on March 11th. The Procurator Fiscal has been sending out a standard letter to everyone who has written to him in support of Kirstin saying that he is afraid that "they are not aware of the full circumstances." However, it is precisely the full circumstances of this heartbreakingly unjust case that move so many to write. Far from doing anything wrong herself, Kirstin has been the victim of the most heartless cruelty and has been made to suffer and worry for nearly a year. The injustice of the case is breathtaking. Here is a girl whose pet had been murdered, told by the perpetrators "Grow up. This is the real world not Disneyland."(Kirstin's case)

Dec 16 ~ In yet another Orwellian statement, Elliot Morley has claimed as a "success" the fact that "quality control arrangements put in place to spot mistakes" had highlighted the failure of a laboratory engaged in government tests.

DEFRA blames "software failure". The fact is that it had at last been noticed that a laboratory "robot" had transferred the scrapie results to the wrong sheep and that some 350 blood tests on five farms were wrong. "Ironically, that laboratory identified that scientists were conducting tests for BSE on cows' brains rather than sheep's brains in October" says the Telegraph.. A department spokesman conceded that the error would have been more serious in a year when the Animal Health Bill has passed into law. Yes indeed. If this bill had already been law - as it will be in the New Year - the five farms would have been told that their sheep had to be slaughtered and there would have been no appeal. Any attempt to protest would have been a criminal offence.

Dec 15 ~ The good news today, for which we have been hoping for some time, is that the European Parliament is to hold its own inquiry into foot and mouth, which could lead to the Prime Minister being called to give evidence.

As the Telegraph report puts it, " Details of the European inquiry emerged on the day that the Government's "lessons learned" inquiry, chaired by Dr Iain Anderson and held in camera, announced that it had begun. Labour MEPs tried to block the European investigation but were overruled by members of the parliament's agriculture committee, although the form of the inquiry will not be decided until the New Year....Peter Ainsworth, the Tory environment spokesman, welcomed the announcement of the European inquiry. He said: "Despite repeated calls for the Government to order a full independent public inquiry, they have stubbornly refused to hold one. "Thanks to Conservative MEPs, we now stand a much better chance of finding out the truth about how, and when, the disease got into Europe and what lay behind the terrible complacency of the Government's early response." We understand Mr Ainsworth's point of view - but what we should most like to see emerge is the truth about the almost unbelievable depths of illegality, deceit, cruelty and misinformation that surround this most shameful of affairs.

Dec 15 ~ Big Brother comes a step closer. Proposals to link every farm in Britain to Defra by means of a computer are being considered by Margaret Beckett, according to the Telegraph today.

The leaked memo, entitled Licensing or registering farmers or farming activity, says the plan to monitor farmers electronically "springs from widespread feeling, both inside and outside the department, that Defra needs to do more to help farmers adapt to and comply with changing requirements and obligations". It was sent to Lord Whitty, the farming minister responsible for co-ordinating Defra evidence to the foot and mouth inquiries, and copied to Mrs Beckett and other ministerial colleagues. It reveals a list of regulatory requirements and checks that would in future have to be performed electronically as part of a farm licensing scheme. The scheme would require every farmer to draw up a business plan encompassing the total assets of the farms - the soil, water, trees, stock, pastures, crops and wildlife - with details of how they propose to make best use of them in sustainable farming terms..."
Michael Hart(Small and Family Farms Alliance) has called it another nail in the coffin of the small family farm and we agree with him. Why cannot this control-obsessed government turn its critical scrutiny upon itself and leave farmers alone to get over past traumas as best they can so that they can carry on farming? As Prince Charles said to agriculture students on Friday,"You are the future. You've got to keep (farming) going"

Dec 15 ~ A Dr Peter Nettleton, of the Moredun Research Institute is, it seems, the latest in a long line of the apparently sane to have rejected the idea that vaccination would have helped in the foot and mouth crisis.

Described in the Dundee Courier article as a leading research scientist working with the very " virulent" disease, Dr Nettleton said, if the paper is to be believed, that if vaccination had been implemented "we would still be in the middle of the epidemic." He also said apparently," As the scale of the outbreak rose, a number of eminent scientists, backed by animal welfare enthusiasts, clamoured for a vaccination programme..... " Enthusiasts? He is prepared to call Professor Brown, Dr Barteling and Dr Sutmoller and their ilk "eminent" but dismisses their calls for vaccination as if it were based, not on up to date practical experience in the field and in the lab but, he says, "purely on how guinea pigs had reacted in a laboratory situation some two decades earlier"? Dr Nettleton seems strangely ignorant of what these men have actually been saying, the esteem (and affection) in which they are held by their knowledgeable peers; the OBE given to Professor Brown FRS for his work on foot and mouth disease and the gratitude of those countries helped by their expertise in modern vaccines against FMD. As so often during this whole disgraceful episode, we can only shake our heads in disbelief at the level of ignorance - or worse - shown by politicians, scientists, knaves and fools who pontificate in this kind of way. We are thoroughly tired of the misinformation about the current state of vaccines, the effectiveness of the SmartCycler test for the virus and the current work on differentiating tests. The public have been hoodwinked for far too long.

Dec 15 ~ Exit Mr Jim Scudamore...who has sent to all the staff a letter saying that a civil servant will be in charge of the State Veterinary Service from next March.

He adds that it is a good thing and that he will not be there. So the Government wants no veterinary interference in the running of the State Veterinary Service ...When Alistair Milne was sacked as Director General of the BBC in 1989 and replaced by a succession of bureaucratic 'Yes men' who had never had any interest in the making of programmes, we realised that Public Broadcasting Service had died, that the concept of an independent corporation operating for the benefit of the public didn't fit with government thinking any more. The effect on the BBC was, and continues to be, disastrous. (One has only to look at their government approved reporting of the foot and mouth crisis and the so-called "war against terrorism") At least Alastair Milne knew and deplored the implications of his unfair and untimely forced departure. One can only wonder what Mr Scudamore's feelings are about the State Veterinary Service and its demise.

Dec 14 ~ Dr Ruth Watkins' document for the Brussels Conference. Here is one British delegate at least who, as a practising farmer, knows not only how to differentiate between a sheep and a cow but also, as an virologist, actually understands the science. Click here to see Dr Watkins' questions for the conference.

Extract: The EU should recognise the unique importance of the hefted flock in the UK when drawing up policies for future outbreaks of FMD.
The EU should facilitate re-hefting areas that have lost their flocks by
(a) allowing the UK to make use of Commission Regulation (EC) 1750/1999 Section 6, Article 13 (which is incorporated into the England Rural Development Programme), by which Member States can make payments for maintaining local breeds of livestock 'in danger of extinction'.
(b) re-examining the State Aid Rules in relation to post-FMD assistance to hefted flocks, allowing the UK government to 'disapply certain restrictions' in order to re-establish the hefted flocks.
Click here to see Dr Watkins' questions for the conference.

Dec 14 ~ Tony Blair has again shown his disregard for Parliament and his increasingly worrying dictatorial tendencies.

He intends signing Britain up to the new EU arrest warrant despite a refusal by a House of Lords committee to clear it. The Prime Minister travelled to Belgium last night for today's EU summit making clear he would agree to the proposed warrant, under which suspects wanted in one EU country can be sent for trial in another. The measure is being rushed through as part of the "war on terrorism", though it has been under consideration in Europe for several years. The warrant will replace existing extradition procedures and allow the arrest of British citizens for crimes such as xenophobia and racism, which are not specific criminal offences in Britain. Once it is agreed at EU level it still has to go through national parliaments - but its main components cannot be amended without the agreement of all 15 member states. The reserve power was introduced in 1998 and was described by ministers at the time as "the cornerstone" of the scrutiny system. Oliver Letwin, shadow home secretary, said if Mr Blair ignored the Lords reserve it "will demonstrate once again this Government's disregard for Parliament".

Dec 14 ~ In sharp contrast to the less than informed speech of Margaret Beckett is this paper delivered at the same International Conference this week:

Foot and Mouth Disease in Argentina (new window) The experience of eradication and the crisis as an opportunity to produce a sustainable change in the cattle industry by Bernado Cané, Chief Vet in Argentina; It will be remembered that Mr Cané's sane and humane words appear elsewhere on warmwell in this transcript from the BBC's Countryfile in which he pointed out that "the vaccine is completely safe for the animals and for the consumers of the meat and the meat. There is no allergic reaction - nothing at all is related to the vaccines. Not only here. We have been vaccinating from thirty years - 50 million heads a year for thirty years: more than one and a half billion units of vaccine have been done in Argentina. And the cost - of course it is very important for you to understand the cost - the vaccine is around 20cents add 25 cents for the cost of application - each animal costs about half a dollar each time and it's done twice a year so it's one American dollar per animal per year." .His paper explains: "The National Eradication Plan includes the strengthening of the national and regional structure with broad participation of all sectors; the limitation of viral circulation by means of: systematic or strategic vaccination; control of livestock movements;stamping out or sanitary slaughtering under special circumstances; and epidmiological surveillance.....This strategy was highly successful especially if compared to that obtained under less transparent and democratic conditions. This gives rise to conclusions that go beyond the mere sanitory issue." Incidentally, Mr Cane points out that sheep do not need to be vaccinated in addition to the cattle.

Dec 14 ~ Readers of this website will still be reeling from the sheer audacity of Margaret Beckett's Brussels speech about the "dangers" of vaccination.

Every argument she makes has been refuted many times. Bryn has let himself go rather in his utter exasperation. We are writhing too at the opprobrium with which the official UK stance is privately viewed abroad. We can only hope that our friends in Europe realise that these profit driven, power seeking, manipulated and manipulative politicians from New Labour and from the unelected executive of the NFU do not have a mandate to speak such nonsense. The atrocities of the past months will be exposed for what they were sooner or later, even if the new Animal Health bill (expressly designed, it seems, to protect the architects of the policy who now realise the scale of their errors ) has passed its sketchy Third Reading.

Dec 14 ~ EUROPE'S leaders will engage today in the opening round of a two-year battle to determine whether the European Union will become a "United States of Europe"

The line from the Government is that Laeken will be the site of a battle royal in which Britain, France and others will struggle to overcome Belgium and its ally Germany. Gerhard Schrvder has indeed demanded a federalist outcome that will transform the Commission into the strong executive arm of a government of Europe and transfer control of the EU budget from the Council of Ministers to the European Parliament. Before the Convention even meets, Britain looks set already to have assented at Laeken to massively important additions to the powers that EU institutions exercise over British lives. See Democracy Watch

Dec 14 ~ Terror Bill passed after climbdown

Home Secretary David Blunkett's emergency anti-terrorist legislation has passed through parliament after being watered down. The Government was forced to abandon its controversial attempt to make a new criminal offence of inciting religious hatred. The Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Bill completed its passage through the Parliament after Mr Blunkett agreed to drop the provision extending the race hate laws to cover religion. 'Peter Simple', writing in the Telegraph today, is a voice of sanity: Can laws and brainwashing make everyone an indistinguishable subject of that planned New World Order in which all races, all nations, tribes, neighbours and families will have been abolished? What misery, death and destruction will accompany the effort to realise that unattainable end?

Dec 13 ~ As expected, the mad, bad and senselessly named Animal Health amendment Bill has got through its Third Reading with no amendments being passed.

Peter Ainsworth, Ann Winterton and Angela Browning were in the forefront of those attempting to inject a little sanity but the Speaker had already curtailed any possibility of genuine debate by disallowing any amendments on a public enquiry or consultation to be called for, leaving only the question of import controls. Ignorance or worse prevails. We can only shake our heads in shame at the crassness of the UK position in Brussels and feel ashamed too tonight of what has happened to any notion of integrity at Westminster. Alas, it is our lives, livelihoods and British way of life that these young career politicians are so carelessly playing with when they turn up in their droves at Division time to toe the party line. As Rachel Sylvester remarked only this morning in the Telegraph: There are many bright young things in the Commons, but they are reluctant to put their heads above the parapet in case they, and their chances of promotion, are shot down. It is left to the "mavericks" like Paul Marsden to raise questions when it should be possible for clever loyalists to seek to improve legislation too. Despite its enormous majority, the Labour Party is still absurdly paranoid about "dissent", which is, after all, just another name for "debate".

Dec 13 ~Brussels Conference: Holland's Chief Veterinary Officer, Dr F.H. Pluimers, in his paper The use of emergency vaccination and trade implcations has categorically stated that in any future outbreak they would choose the "socially more acceptable solution" of keeping vaccinated animals alive.

He says that the 3ABC test is more than 99% reliable in differentiating vaccinated animals from infected ones as long as the vaccine is a highly purified one. Differentiation tests could be used, he says, in an area where animals have been vaccinated. 30 days after the last FMD outbreak it can be assumed that they would be protected against the vaccine virus. No further spread of the disease would then be expected. All vaccinated animals could be tested after 30 days for antibodies to the field virus. On farms found to be infected the herd could be slaughtered. The surveillance zone could be safely dispensed with if all results were negative and after the lifting of the ban, animal products sold within the EU. For the first twelve months, untreated products would be sold only in the domestic market, but treated ones, such as double treated milk could be exported. Dr Pluimers says that he is convinced that this strategy would sufficiently guarantee the prevention of the virus spreading and that the OIE-FMD status of other EU Member states would not be endangered. In conclusion, he proposes that "differentiating tests are accepted under OIE and EU policy as soon as possible. Eventually, international trade should be possible too."

Dec 13 ~ Kris de Clercq 's paper Technical review of Diagnostics and Vaccines as a tool for preventing FMD at the Brussels conference makes reference to the papers written by Professor Fred Brown, Dr Simon Barteling,Dr Paul Sutmoller and Dr Paul Kitching

among others. ( One wonders why the British government did not likewise accept their expertise when it was so freely offered.) Mr de Clercq's recommendations include: only highly purified vaccines should be allowed for future vaccination campaigns and research into new vaccines is encouraged, tests have to be developed and validated to evaluate the degree of vaccine purification ensuring absence of anti-NSP antibodies after vaccination. Criteria based on these tests have to be included in the Eur.Pharm.... Now that millions of British animals are dead and Defra's target possibly nearly reached, agreement for the use of vaccination in Europe seems virtually a fait accompli - but it will, it seems, have many long entangling strings attached.

Dec 13 ~ Pausing in our dismay at the antics of those "in power" we give three hearty cheers to Prince Charles - yet again.

The Prince acts with energy, humanity and genuine concern while those in power, who'd like to be shot of him, merely dodge and weave while mouthing platitudes. His Royal Highness is to visit Yorkshire on Monday to show his support for those most affected by the FMD outbreak, and to see how local people are working together to keep rural facilities and young entrepreneurs in the countryside. Part of his visit will take him to the Thirsk area, (see news)

Dec 13 ~ The loathsome Animal Health amendment Bill goes to the Report and Third Reading stage in the House of Commons today. Argument and debate will not be extensive, it appears.

One MP was heard to remark yesterday:" The Speaker has just indicated that he is not going to call our amendments on a public enquiry or consultation, so I have wasted the whole day preparing speeches... " There will be the usual three line whip, no doubt. MPs would do well to read this article when considering if they are now more than mere rubber stamps for highly questionable legislation that allows no questions to be asked.

Dec 13 ~ Mrs Beckett in Brussels, unwilling to look as though she is facing a u-turn, has been trying not to sound too much in favour of vaccination. Like David Byrne however, she is unable to find any new arguments against vaccination.

Consumers were unwilling, she said, to eat meat from vaccinated animals. This, as we have seen from the Consumer Council and others, is just a mischievous myth. We have all been eating vaccinated meat for years. More oddly she remarked, as if vaccination somehow precluded the putting down of animals already seriously infected before widespread inoculation took effect, that " the disease itself, if left unchecked, caused extreme suffering and even death to animals." She fails to mention, incidentally, that this strain of FMD ripples through a sheep flock unnoticed because its effect on sheep is so mild. Vaccination was also expensive", (as if the last eight months have been a money-saving exercise) a "massive logistical challenge" (as if farmers are incapable in Britain of doing what they do in Argentina), and it remained impossible, she added, to distinguish between infected and vaccinated animals (this is a lie: there remains only so-called validation to make such tests widely available). All her arguments are flawed. She must surely know this. The whole case against vaccination has been a nonsense from the start and politically motivated. It looks as though what is actually happening in Brussels is a cynical face-saving exercise. With all the heavy emphasis at this conference on surveillance, control from the centre, bureaucratic rules, "traceability" and so on, the EU sounds unlikely to be on the point of reintroducing common sense into agricultural and animal health policies. We very much hope we are wrong about this. See Guardian report and others

Dec 13 ~ Magnus Linklater in The Times has today taken up the cudgels on behalf of Professor Alan Ebringer, his ground-breaking work on BSE, and the cause of independent science.

As we have said on warmwell ourselves, the real reason for the apparent refusal to continue to fund this research seems to be its temerity in challenging the received wisdom of government science with all the big business strings attached ( See Rothschild, below) " It is a baffling decision, and there are no points for revealing that it comes from the bureaucratic depths of Defra, a government department whose nerveless grasp of science is becoming a positive embarrassment. Once again, a piece of scientific research which challenges established views is being ignored and suppressed. Like the scientists who recommended vaccination against foot-and-mouth disease, Ebringer has been sidelined - in direct contravention of the Phillips report into BSE, which recommended that alternative scientific theories be properly explored." (more)

Dec 13 ~ David BYRNE European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection "...My objective is clear. I want to reach agreement, by mid 2003 at the latest, on a new approach towards FMD.

It is simply inconceivable that we could ever allow a repeat of the crisis that took place this year. I can identify certain clear objectives which must be met:
Strengthening our defences against further outbreaks. This will require more effort and resources to tackle illegal imports of potentially contaminated products.
A livestock population which is managed with the prospect of infectious diseases like FMD in mind. This objective will require improved identification and traceability and more restrictions on animal movements to reduce the potential for cross-contamination.
Improved surveillance and control measures to ensure that outbreaks are spotted quickly and that decisive action is taken to eradicate them before they take hold.
The exploitation of the new tests to ensure that vaccination is a more effective tool in combating FMD and that the unnecessary slaughter and destruction of healthy animals can be avoided.
A more coherent international framework, working with the OIE in particular, which allows trade to take place but also takes account of other legitimate concerns. ....."
The European approach to control and prevent FMD International Conference on Prevention and Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Brussels, 12 December 2001
A glance at the full text of Mr Byrne's speech will reveal ignorance, complacency, self-congratulation, and the continuing patronising refusal, echoing that of the British government, to acknowledge the cries of outrage from the UK and Dutch public at the inhumanity of EU policy on FMD. Added to this is the bureaucratic cry for more surveillance, more "traceability" , more central control freakery, more strangling red tape. Weasel words and crocodile tears about "painful experience" cannot mask the continuing falsity of the official line and nor can apparent openness to vaccination or promises of better import controls.
"...we do not need an inquest to know that far reaching change is needed " says Mr Byrne but he is mistaken. An Inquest is exactly what we need.

Dec 12 ~ From Farmers' Weekly: "Addressing an audience which included officials from many world embassies, Lord Haskins said agriculture was dominated by politics.

"It is political, it always has been political and, despite what anyone may say about the future, it will always continue to be political," he said. CAP reform was on its way because people believe that maintaining a strong domestic food system in the EU cannot be justified, the peer added."
Well well. And there we were, wondering what could possibly justify the systematic wiping out of small farmers and farm animals under the pretence of "Animal Health".... But if it's "all political" then that, of course, is all right. We live in the real world, the future of agriculture is all sewn up, "the entire foreign and security policy of the union" will be brought under Mr Prodi's EU control, and everything will be just fine...

Dec 12 ~ Not for the first time, we find ourselves baffled by the BBC's reporting of the foot and mouth crisis in Britain.

They are still erroneously reporting the death of four million animals, when everybody is now perfectly aware that this figure fails to include the many young animals killed and the so-called "welfare" killings. (Rare Breeds International were quoting a figure of " up to ten million" in the first five months.) They report Mrs Beckett as having said:" The basis of policy across the world, not just in the EU, is if you have an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease it must be eradicated, it must be stamped out, because it has always been regarded as such a danger... " but surely such words are unlikely? How could a Minister be so badly briefed as not to know that this is most definitely not "policy across the world"? Why does she ignore those many countries who use vaccination - such as Argentina - and who, far from destroying animals, simply isolate them and care for them while they are ill?
The BBC then reports her as asking: "Is the policy of eradication right, if it is why is it, because what you then do flows from whether you are content to live with the disease or whether you are trying to get rid of it?"
We find it hard to believe that the reporter did not gently stop the Minister at this point and ask for clarification, or even perhaps for a translation into English.

Dec 12 ~ Yesterday's note about the farm in Carlisle with cull lorries outside and new disinfectant very apparent has prompted this worrying email:

" After reading the message on Warmwell about Cumbria and the Snowie lorries, I thought you might be interested by this information from the Farmgate Livestock Forum. Message on 7 November (their entries give the month first followed by the day of the month) from Mike. He said that since 30 Sept 180 farms have had their animals slaughtered. Then on 11 November, there was another message which said "And another 2 on Saturday". Do you know any more about this? "
The answer is that we do not k